Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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220. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if partial capacity benefit will be included as an eligible payment for the purposes of a SUSI special rate grant award in circumstances in which the appellant's partial capacity benefit is dependent on the appellant satisfying the underlying eligibility conditions for invalidity pension; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3222/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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To qualify for the special rate of grant under the 2017 scheme, an applicant’s reckonable income has to be less than €23,000 and include on the 31^stof December 2016, one of the specified long-term social welfare payments prescribed in the scheme.

Partial Capacity Benefit is a Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP) payment. To qualify for Partial Capacity Benefit, one needs to be in receipt of either Illness Benefit or Invalidity Pension. The payment is a type of activation payment, made to persons who have been assessed as capable of re-entering the workforce, usually on reduced hours. Persons in receipt of Partial Capacity Benefit can retain the right to move back on to Illness Benefit or Invalidity Pension. However, this entitlement is subject to review.

Invalidity Pension is a long-term social welfare payment and therefore a qualifying payment for the special rate of grant. However, Illness Benefit is a short-term payment and not a qualifying payment for the special rate of grant.

Partial Capacity Benefit is not listed as one of the qualifying long-term payments for the special rate of grant in the Student Grant Scheme 2017.

The review of the Student Grant Scheme 2018 is ongoing. The treatment of Partial Capacity Benefit will be considered in the context of the review. It is anticipated that the Scheme will be published in early April.